What is Base64?

Base64 is a binary-to-text encoding scheme that represents arbitrary binary data using 64 printable ASCII characters (A–Z, a–z, 0–9, + and /). It is used to safely embed or transmit binary data — like images or files — through systems that only handle text, such as JSON, email (MIME), and data URIs.

Base64 is encoding, not encryption: anyone can decode it instantly, so it provides no security. Encoded output is about 33% larger than the original data.